Volunteer Caps On: Part 1

Stuck at work on a rainy thursday evening. Since we haven't updated this recently, will kick-start the blogging mode again (ahem bernz Ilene and gor).

This Saturday, Ilene and I will volunteer at the Singapore zoo for the elephant parade. Not as grand as it sounds - no elephants will be walking parade style.

There are these elephant statues around Sg now with unique designs (elephant with zebra stripes, peacock feathered one, a devil elephant, angry birds themed one and much more). Think that will be up for auction and the money will be for a good cause. Assuming it's for elephant welfare.

Since we are fresh volunteers, we attended a training workshop last last week. Learned about so much stuff on elephants. But we already did our google research before that so Ilene and I know some stuff already.

Early morning training (9am Nov 12 2011)

Both of us won a prize during an ice-breaker game - an SG Zoo post-it haha

As volunteers, we will entertain the park guests and explain to them cool facts on elephants, inform them about how they are being threatened nowadays and how we can help.

We will also have some specimens with us like elephant molars (did you know they only have 4 molars at a time and will only have 6 sets in their lifetime??) sad thing is most elderly elephants die of starvation when they already lose all their molars :(

Molar of a baby elephant!

We will also show people their hair strand which is amazingly thick! Sample of their ear skin, and even their dung!!

Lots of stuff to learn and memorize. Hopefully this Saturday both of us will do a good job of being elephant ambassadors. *fingers crossed*

Random thing to share: there was an area near the auditorium we trained in where bats sleep. Very lucky they found their hiding place!

“But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.” - Carrie Bradshaw

One of my favorite pastimes ever since moving to Singapore 2 years ago was to discover the city by myself. It was something that I forced myself to do because I simply dreaded going out by myself in Manila. I always worried about what I would possibly do when I'm only with myself and what people would think of me (ayyy, loner? :D)

One of my greatest discoveries was seeing myself grow from dreading being alone to enjoying my own company. Tonight was one such night where I strolled off to have dinner by myself at a non-descript Italian restaurant at Taka, Domani.

If you're doing this for the first time, be prepared to see THAT look on people's faces as if they pity you for not having company. You'll soon realize that their looks of pity is a small exchange for the enjoyable time you'll be having with yourself. After all, if you can't bear to be with yourself, how can others bear to be with you?

Tata,

Bernice

Herbs & Spices: Italian meets Indian

With the girls again for our weekly Friday dinner. Bernice suggested to have Italian and she found this place near bugis area. It was called Tintine but it was renamed to Herbs & Spices.

It's not really a fusion restaurant since they don't mix cuisines. But they serve both Indian and Italian dishes. Weird but one of a kind.

We all had Italian. Ilene got spinach risotto with jumbo prawns (38sgd). Story behind this is that she only ordered the normal prawn one for 20sgd but the hostess offered the jumbo ones. She went for it and later just realized she had to top up 18sgd more. It was worth it though since the prawns were really big.

Bernice had her alio olio pasta with normal sized prawns (13sgd). It wasn't the best one she had according to her but it was okay. Amici in Manila is still her top choice.

I had the spaghetti marina (20sgd) which was baked in parchment paper. Ilene said it looked like a giant garlic bulb when it was served. I actually ordered this because I saw a review in a blog and sounded cool. It was quite good. Sauce was flavorful. The dish had 4 prawns, 1 scallop, 3 clams, 2 mussels and some pieces of squid so it was really worth it.

Including some photos of our costumes tomorrow too :) before dinner we took out all the props we bought/made. Woot!!

Using blogger app so photos are scrambled. Gah.

Prawning Adventure!

Having run out of activities to do, Marie suggested that we go prawning at Punggol. The idea came from a colleague of hers, as prawning is a pastime among Singaporeans. And so the three of us went prawn fishing on a Saturday afternoon, thinking that we'd catch enough prawns to enjoy a nice, barbecued dinner. I read somewhere that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, only eats food that he has hunted for himself. This is because he wants to be reminded that a living creature had to die in order for him to live. We were all inspired by this so we carried on with the challenge!

The prawning rate ranges from SGD 15-30 for 1-3 hours of prawn fishing time. We took the 2-hour package with the rod and earthworm bait provided. Their friendly Filipino staff helped us with the cutting and hooking of the bait. We were officially in business (of fishing prawns)!

L-R: Earthworm bait; Slicing the worms

We caught a total of 8 prawns after 2 hours of prawning. That was pathetic by prawning standards so much so that the staff there took pity on us and gave us a prawn which he'd caught. Ilene caught the most prawns followed by Marie, then myself. We decided to just take our sad prawns home and cook it some other time.

L-R: Marie's first catch; Ilene's new calling in life: prawning; Me, still with no catch after 1 hour

Did you know that prawns have pincers? We were surprised to find them on some of the (few) prawns that we have caught. Their blasted pincer were in the way while removing the hook but we were able to outsmart the prawn by pinning its pincers down with our trusty slipper!

Until our next adventure!

Tata,

Bernice

EWF: Lamb Burger

Stopped over for dinner before meeting B :) alone time mode!

Decided to try Everything With Fries which is located at Orchard Central Mall. Same people who own Awfully Chocolate - so they serve their cupcakes here too!

Didn't order the meal (which has the fries) though haha I got myself their lamb burger :) it's 6.90 SGD for the sandwich. Very affordable if you ask me.

I give this place two thumbs up!! The burger was very juicy - cooked medium / medium rare. You can really taste the lamb flavor which I loooove!!

I'm a condiments type of girl so I had to eventually put my ketchup and mustard. Surprisingly the ketchup brought out the lamb flavor more!

And when you get to the middle, there's this block of cheese which is a lovely surprise to the palate.

Can't wait to try their other burgers next time! Woot!!

Our very first makeup tutorial!!

Tanjong Katong part 1

Since I have a Korean sister in law, she has introduced me to her rich and colorful culture but the most important aspect that she shared to me was of course Korean food. I love it when she cooks for us especially those non-mainstream dishes like the japchae, bulgogi and bibimbap.
Aside from her home cooked meals, she also cooks instant noodles for us! For the first two noodles, we like to add egg so that the soup wont be too spicy. The 3rd noodle is like pancit canton version but with black bean sauce. This is my favorite among the three!

My top 3 instant Korean noodles

So when we went to Tanjong Katong, a friend suggested to try the Korean restaurant there and so we did! The place is called Full House Korean Restaurant (Yes I believe it is named after the popular korean drama) I love the appetizers that they serve but the most important part of it is..it's a buffet!)

my appetizer plate

I ordered a non-instant black bean noodle. It was really delicious, the noodle was very chewy if im not mistaken it is made from potato starch. I was not able to take photos of Marie's bibimbap @$13 and Bernice's Jjol-Men @$13

Jajangmyeon @ $12

Full House Korean Restaurant
336 Tanjong Katong Road
Singapore 437109
Tel: 63446244
Open Daily: 12pm – 11pm

After dinner we decided to have drinks at Big Bad Wolf. We ordered two rounds.
Marie: Hoegaarden and Lindeman's Cherry( Kriek-refreshing lambic beers brewed with real fruits)

Lindeman's Cherry beer @ $9

Bernice: Lindeman's Cherry beer and Palm Beer (Belgium's favorite amber beer - light caramel malt with crisp hoppy finish)

Palm beer @ 12

Ilene: Hoegaarden and Rocchefort (belgium trappist beer with notes of figs,raisins & plums, hoppy finish)

Rochefort @ $13

Us with our drinks :) Btw, we our friend He Who Shall Not be Named having dinner as well! It was a fun night spying on him haha

226 Tanjong Katong Rd
Singapore 437015
http://bigbadwolf.com.sg

Waffle factory

Blogging and eating via blogger app :)

With Ilene and Bernice now at Waffle Factory - which for me is the level up version of our waffle time stalls.

It's a small shop in the sing post building which Bernz suggested. Ilene and I passed by this place before when we were still bums. So it's nice to finally try the place.

They offer waffles with different fillings - both sweet and savory. They have cheese, egg, chicken, etc. Then for the sweet which I love, they have fresh fruits, nutella, choc chips and peanut butter.

These are our orders:
Ilene - orange, hazelnut and chocolate. 1.8 sgd
Bernz - fresh blueberries and chocolate. 2 sgd
Me - peanut butter chocolate chip. 1.5 sgd

Lovely snack for a rainy Saturday afternoon. :)

Confessions of a Wedding Guest: Singaporean vs Chinoy Banquets

I always found weddings as entertaining events. The elements are always the same -- wedding performers, friends who give testimonies about the bride and groom, and of course the main actors, the bride and groom themselves. The entire night is built around putting on a great show for the guests as they are wined and dined during the celebration. So when I was invited to my colleague's wedding banquet, I took it upon myself to observe the similarities and differences between a Chinoy wedding and a Singaporean one.

Chinoy weddings are typically officiated in churches and the subsequent banquet/ reception (used interchangeably in this entry) at a hotel. My sister and I used to pick which banquets we will be attending based on the venue because some hotels serve really sumptuous food. In Singapore, both the solemnizing and feasting are held at the hotel premises, with only a change in the ballroom. Similarly, not everyone is requested to attend the solemnization for both Chinoy and Singaporean weddings.

In terms of the feast itself, guests are treated to 10-13 courses of delectable Chinese cuisine!

While the guests enjoyed their dinner, a montage of photos started coming to life on screen showing the bride and the groom's wonder years and of their travels around the world together. This was followed by a video of the gatecrash and tea ceremony, which took part during the earlier part of the day. In Singaporean weddings, it is customary for the groom and his 'brothers' (usually the groom's close friends) to set off early in the morning for the bride's place to 'claim' her hand in marriage. I use the word 'claim' here because the bride and her 'sisters', or close friends, usually device tricks that serve as hurdles for the groom and his men. These consist of, but are not limited to, making them eat raw bitter gourd, drink mutations of juices with weird things floating inside, and even dressing them up just to make them look silly. These hurdles must be cleared before the 'sisters' let the groom into the bride's house where he then proceeds to the bride's locked chamber and reads out his promises to her for the rest of their married life together. Whether it be yearly Chanel bags or monthly shopping sprees, the guests could not stop laughing at this point, as the bride comes out of her chamber and both bride and groom set out for the tea ceremony, which is similar to a Chinoy tea ceremony.

Twice during the dinner, the guests were asked to toast the newlyweds, marked by loud and prolonged shouts of 'YAAAAM SENNNGG', a Chinese dialect term which loosely translates to the western 'Cheers!'. I was expecting some gaudy Chinese singing by hired performers or friends following the toasts, and was extremely relieved that this is not the case for Singaporean weddings. To this day, terribly horrible singing from Chinoy wedding performances still make me cringe with accompanying goosebumps all over my body.

The fun and tech-savvy couple also set-up self check-in booths that helped point their guests to their respective tables, which also served as a stalking device in case you wanted to find out if your friend has 'checked in' yet. All in all, the wedding was a sincere and intimate occasion, even for a wedding of about a hundred guests or so. I officially love attending weddings and I am already looking forward to guesting my next one.

Ta ta darlings,

Bernice

The search for the best RVC in SG

Ever since I came here I have been searching for the best Red Velvet Cake.  The best one that I tried was in Manila during my cousin's wedding and its from Karen's Kitchen. Yummmm i swear it is the most moist red velvet that I ever tasted!! Cream cheese was divine!

You can visit and order from this link (cant click must copy and paste)
http://karenskitchen.com.ph/dotcomdotph

I have tried a couple of cafes that sell red velvet from:

1. Food for Thought (Good food for a good cause) located at 420 North Bridge Rd, North Bridge Centre #01-06. It is in front of the National Library.

http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/fft/home.php

Store front, work stations and the menu

The cake costs around Sgd 5.90. It was dry and I was not satisfied- FAILED

How to eat a red velvet

2. Some cafe beside 313- It was around Sgd 3.85
sorry no pictures because yet again it FAILED my standards

3. Black at 111 Somerset Road

Blackboard menu

Marie ordered cafe latte @sgd 6 while I ordered macchiato @ sgd 4

Black and White

The cake was too tempting not to be ordered RVC @ sgd 6
Moistness level-Check
Rich cream cheese level-Check
Sweetness-Check
PASSED ilene's standards

YUMMY

SPOTTED: Greg Uttsada Panichku aka VJ Utt 
(Stalker mode- was too shy to take this photo but with Marie's help I was able to get some okay shots)

Anyway, will be still searching for the best RVC in town...

When Boredom Strikes - Makeup to the Rescue

Every once in a while, there's not much to do here in Singapore. And sometimes we're just too lazy to go out of the house.

Sooo...to cure our boredom, we color...our faces! (This is also mainly influenced by Bernice who is a Makeup Addict - seriously, this girl has more than 30 lipsticks, tons of makeup brushes and watches youtube makeup videos almost everyday. Amazing!)

Here are some of the experiments we've done so far:

ILENE | Very simple and beachy makeup

I did this! Woot! Notice her thicker brow. Can't see it much here but Ilene had bronzer too. Her "photoshoot" got cut short though, she had a panic attack because of some work related sh*t haha

MARIE | Queen of Hearts-ish

Bernice showed us this video copying the queen's makeup - here's what happened. They glued my bows so to cover it better with concealer (not so successful). Raised my brows, put a fake mole, and lipstick in a heart shape.

VOLDEMORT (He who shall not be named. P.S. I seriously still don't think you'll keep your anonymity with this idea haha) | Two Faced

We tried to do a split makeup for Voldemort - good girl on one side, taray look on the other.

BERNICE | Just plain evil

Goal here was to look like a crazy evil character - like an evil step mom in a Disney movie. Eyes were the emphasis, real thick shadow and pointed upwards bringing the cat eye to the next level.

Oh, i forgot to mention the nose haha a bit over the top but hey, kudos to the nose bridge effect.

BERNICE version 2 | Trying to look like a she-man with male genitalia

Our second attempt at hiding the eyebrows and I think we finally succeeded. This makeup is just plain CRAZY yet achieved the purpose of making her look like a drag queen. Lashes, shadow, plumped up lips...exaggeration is the key word here.

So, when you're bored...grab a brush and paint yourself like crazy!! Can't wait for more craazzzyyy experiments ;)